Crepes Perfect On Tooth At Small Bistro

By Larry Hill
Gazette Restaurant Writer

The Crepe Lady, 101 Park Ave., 433-3718.

• Hours: Open from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

• Location: The Crepe Lady is in Belmont Shore. There is a public lot adjacent and street parking in the area.

• Staff/Service: The staff is friendly and accommodating.

• Food/Drinks: As you might expect, much of The Crepe Lady’s menu centers on crepes. There are savory crepes like ham and gruyere, chicken and mushroom; mozzarella cheese, pest, and sun-dried tomatoes; cinnamon apple and Swiss cheese; and egg, ham, spinach and cheese with hollandaise sauce.

Sweet crepes include chocolate ganache with toasted coconut and banana; butter and sugar; strawberry jam and mozzarella cheese; and Crepe Suzette.

Not in the mood for crepes? Try a ham and cheese sandwich on a baguette or chicken, mozzarella, basil, tomatoes and pesto mayo. Maybe you’re in the mood for salad. You might try the Waldorf with greens, apple, walnuts and blue cheese or romaine lettuce with mandarin oranges, slivered almonds, green onions and homemade tarragon dressing.

You can also order a cheese plate with imported cheeses and a baguette. The Crepe Lady offers frozen yogurt with fruit and dry toppings.

• Atmosphere: The Crepe Lady is French bistro all the way from the French music to the Eiffel Tower replicas on the tables. The dining room is on the small side, but adequate for couples and singles.

• The Taste: I stopped late Saturday morning for breakfast/lunch. The morning crowd remnants were leaving and I was just ahead of the lunch crowd. The 1980s are back and with them crepes are hip once again.

I can still remember when my sister took me for my first crepe. I’d just fallen off the turnip truck back then and had never even heard of crepes. I sampled my first crepe in the Eaton Center; it was filled with scallops and shrimp, a Coquille St. Jacques variation. I’d say that was a reasonable introduction.

The Crepe Lady was trained in France and has a long history as a chef, with expertise in Japanese, Italian and French cuisines. Her crepes are perfect on the tooth and stuffed with wonderful flavor combinations. On my visit, I sampled the ham and Gruyere savory crepe and the strawberry jam and mozzarella cheese sweet crepe.

The ham and Gruyere is an excellent example of a savory crepe. The ham needs to be well trimmed and easy to cut, but wonderfully flavored. The Gruyere adds the right density and tang to the crepe without being too stringy or too pungent.

It is a proper savory crepe. It was accompanied by sliced strawberries and wonderfully sweet blueberries.

The sweet crepe might seem an odd combination to those who don’t have cheddar cheese with their apple pie, but fruit and cheese combinations can be spectacular. In this case the slight tang and saltiness of the mozzarella is a great complement to the sweetness of the strawberry jam. It was topped with whipped cream and powdered sugar.

The crepes are generously proportioned, reasonably priced and quite tasty. That should be a winning recipe for the Crepe Lady.

• Price: Breakfast or lunch for two is $20 to $25 with drinks.